What Perfection Feels Like
by Poptart22
Summary: Ezra and Aria go on their first date in Rosewood after her parents give them the okay. Basically some Ezria fluff. One shot


I took one last look in the mirror, making sure that ever hair was in place. I was retouching my mascara when I heard a knock at the door. I quickly jammed the wand back into the mascara tube and bounded down the stairs, taking them two at a time. As I passed the mirror in the front hall I took a quick peek, making sure I looked perfect. I walked over to the door; the closer I got the bigger the smile across my face became. By the time I reached for the doorknob I was grinning from ear to ear.

"Hi" I whispered.

"Hi back. You look…" He seemed to be at a loss for words. "Gorgeous."

"You're not so bad yourself." I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. "Come inside?"

"Of course." I smiled as Ezra held the door open for me. Always the gentleman.

"I brought you these." He said, bringing a bouquet filled with a dozen white roses. "And a bottle of wine for Byron and Ella. I wasn't quite sure what else to bring, so I thought wine would be a safe bet." I took the flowers and gave Ezra a quick peck on the cheek.

"These are beautiful. I'll be right back, I'm gonna go put them in my room." I scurried up the stairs, determined to get the flowers into a vase as fast as I could. The less time Ezra spent alone with my parents, the better. Ezra and I had finally convinced them that I truly loved him and he loved me too. Ella took our news a bit better than Byron; he still glared whenever I mentioned Ezra and myself as a couple.

We'd considered my parents the biggest hurdle, as soon as we got them to accept us, anything was possible. It'd been a fight, though. It wasn't easy to convince my parents that Ezra wasn't a monster. I quickly filled a vase from my room with water and I could hear Byron talking to Ezra. They sounded civil enough, but that could change at any moment. I put the flowers in and placed the vase on my desk, and I took one last look at how I looked in the mirror. If I was going to go public with Ezra Fitz, I was gonna look damn good while I did it.

When I came downstairs, Ezra was sitting on the living room couch while my parents were standing up opposite to him. I stifled a giggle, because I knew this is how I looked when my parents were about to lecture me. I realized what I'd just thought, and my smile was wiped clean off my face. I walked over to my parents and Ezra, and I managed to stammer out something that came out as gibberish.

Byron turned to me, a confused look on his face. "What?"

"I said that Ezra and I should get going. We don't want to be late for our reservati-" I was cut off before I could finish my sentence.

"Honey, you're not going to be late. Sit down for a second. Your dad and I want to talk to you both." Ella motioned to the couch, and Ezra opened his arm to allow me to curl up to his side. I could see that Byron was gritting his teeth at this, so I flashed him an encouraging smile.

"Okay, even though we've come to… accept that you two really love each other, it doesn't mean that Rosewood will. It is Rosewood after all." Ella looked at Byron to continue, and he went on saying basically the same thing. Trust me, Ezra and I already knew the consequences… We'd mulled over whether we were going to 'come-out' to the rest of the world many times. We knew that we were going to be the town's hot piece of gossip for who knows how long. But our relationship was legal, he wasn't my teacher, and I was at the age of consent. There was -A though, but I intended to keep Ezra ignorant of his/her/its existence.

I zoned back in when I felt Ezra squeeze my arm.

"And know that even though Rosewood may be against you, we aren't. Plus you'll have your friends behind you." Byron looked relieved, as if he'd thought about what he was saying for a long time.

"I know Daddy, we'll be fine." I gave him a hug; I knew that this was hard for him to accept.

"Be back by midnight, okay?" he quietly asked me.

"No problem Dad. I'll see you later tonight". I withdrew from his arms and walked over to Ezra, and entwined my fingers with his. He gave me a reassuring grin, and we headed towards the door.

I felt Ezra pull away for a second, and he turned towards my parents. "Thank you. I'll have her home by midnight. Goodnight Byron, Ella."

I looked up to Ezra, and I saw the same excitement in my eyes reflected in his. "You ready?"

"Of course." He gave me a kiss that ended up being a little longer than expected. I heard my dad clear his throat behind us, and we snapped apart, both of our faces red. We scurried out the door, both giggling like little kids.

"Sorry about my dad. I know he's supposed to be okay with us now, but I have a feeling it's more of the threat of my mom keeping him in line." We got down the driveway to his car, where he opened the door for me. "Thanks."

"In all honesty, I didn't expect your dad to accept us being together so fast, but I'm glad he did." Ezra crossed over to the driver's side. He put the keys in the ignition, but looked at me with love in his eyes.

"Me too." I breathed, and I leaned over and kissed him. I could feel him smile, so I pulled away. "That grin should be illegal." we laughed quietly together.

"I'm happy we're finally able to do this. We're able to go out and have a life outside of the apartment. I can hold your hand in public, give you a ride to school, and you can come to Hollis without worrying about your dad catching us. It's something most couples take for granted." Ezra gave me another kiss, before I noticed the time.

"Oh shit, our reservations are for seven, and its six fifty already." I'd made reservations at the most popular restaurant in Rosewood. Go big or go home right? I hadn't exactly told Ezra where we were going yet; we were just going to park in a lot nearby and walk to the Grille. I figured the more public attention we had, the less people we would have to explain about us to. As if he could read my mind, Ezra asked me where we were going.

"The Apple Rose Grille." I was kind of nervous telling him this, because even though we'd been waiting for this for a while, I'm not sure if Ezra was comfortable having our first date in Rosewood at a restaurant where most people go out to eat at.

"Sounds perfect."

We were walking down the streets of Rosewood hand in hand, for the first time ever. Most people overlooked us, ignorant to who we were; our age difference, the fact that Ezra was my teacher, all of it. It lasted for a good minute and a half before we passed a group of kids that go to Rosewood High sitting outside of a coffee shop. It was like all of a sudden as we walked by every single pair of eyes was on us, and everyone was silent. Lovely.

It was at that moment that I decided I didn't care what they thought. They're not in this relationship, I am. Just Ezra and I, that was all that mattered. I had the approval of the people that mattered most in my life anyways, the other people's opinions just weren't important.

I stopped walking, and pulled Ezra towards me, making sure the kids from school were watching.

"Kiss me." I saw him turn to me with wide eyes.

"You sure?" He looked at me for approval; there was no going back now, we're going to make our mark on Rosewood in front of ten of my peers, and his ex-students.

I took a step towards him, closing the gap between us. I let out a small whisper, "Absolutely." He placed a chaste kiss on my lips; no need to be indecent in public, right?

By the time he pulled away, I had a huge smile plastered on my face. "Now we're really going to be late for dinner." I let out a small giggle.

"Dinner can wait for this." Ezra flashed his boyish smile at me, and I leaned in once again. It was amazing how great this felt, to be kissing Ezra in Rosewood, outside of closed doors and his apartment. We broke apart, and I took a step forward leading Ezra to the Apple Rose Grille.

"We're never going to get there on time if we keep stopping like this." I said, twisting around to face Ezra. Both our hands were intertwined with the others, and I was walking backwards. Not many people were walking on the sidewalk so I figured that bumping into anyone was out of the question.

With a few awkward encounters along the way, we made it to the Grille at about five after seven. We were seated in a booth by the windows, which was perfect, because it kept away prying eyes.

Dinner was amazing; we did what we normally do; discuss books we'd recently read, how his teaching was going at Hollis, and how things were at home for me. While looking at the dessert menu, we ended up playing footsie under the table, and couldn't focus for longer than five seconds without one of us snickering. We'd finally managed to control ourselves when a waiter arrived with the most delicious looking piece of cake.

"Your dessert." The waiter placed it on the table, and turned to walk away.

"But we didn't order our dessert yet. This isn't ours." Ezra told the man.

"It was paid for by that table by the kitchen. I'd take it if I were you. They were pretty adamant about ordering this for you." The man pointed us in the direction of the table and went on his way.

I turned to see Spencer, Emily and Hanna sitting at the table, trying to stifle their laughter. Hanna gave us a little wave before she pointed to the plate.

On the plate was a slice of red velvet cake, (my favourite) and around the outside was a heart outlined with raspberry sauce. On top of the cake was a little red paper. I looked at Ezra, and I was almost afraid to see what was inside.

"Go on, open it. I'm curious." Ezra looked at me with a smile.

I opened it, and nearly died of embarrassment.

**Dear Fitzy and Aria,**

**While we understand that this is your first date in Rosewood,**

**Please get a room. **

**We can hear you two giggling from across the restaurant.**

**And that's saying something.**

**Love, **

**Hanna, Spencer and Emily **

I showed the note to Ezra, and both our faces were red. We looked over at Hanna, Spencer and Emily who couldn't control themselves and were laughing so hard that they were getting dirty looks from other patrons in the restaurant.

Hanna looked up, and I mouthed 'thank you' at her. She flashed me a smile and murmured something to the rest of the girls.

"Oh no." I buried my face in my hands. I could see Hanna, Spence and Emily walking over here, still giggling.

"What's wrong, Aria?" Ezra asked. He looked concerned.

I managed to peer out of my hands, and looked him in the eye. "They're walking over here. I don't even want to know why."

Ezra turned just to see them pass our table on their way out the door.

"Aria! And Fitzy! What a coincidence seeing you two here! Did you two lovebirds enjoy your dessert?" Hanna practically squealed at us.

I looked over to Ezra who was just sitting there awkwardly. Obviously he knew that I'd told the girls about us a long time ago, but I don't think he was prepared for how exuberant they'd be with us in public.

"It was absolutely GREAT Han! Thanks so much you guys!" I put on a fake smile and I tried to be bursting with enthusiasm. No way I was gonna let them get to me right now. I'd get even with them later. Ezra seemed like he was trying to play along, but he was clearly uncomfortable with the whole predicament.

Spencer placed an envelope on the table, and gave me a wink. "Open this after dinner. You can thank us later."

All three of them chimed together. "Bye Ezra!"

As if the whole restaurant wasn't already staring at us. After my friends left, I turned to Ezra and handed him the envelope. "Here, you get to open this one. I don't want to see what they put in there." I bit my lip and waited for him to open it.

Slowly Ezra opened the envelope, and when he did, his mouth dropped. He looked at me, with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"Oh god. Please don't tell me its baby pictures of me or something. I'd probably kill them."

"Nope." Ezra said, popping the 'p'. "It's something even better." Ezra leaned over and gave me a lasting kiss. "Let me pay for the bill and then we'll go."

"Sounds good." It then occurred to me that Ezra never told me _where_ we were going. I gave him a questioning look, and Ezra flashed his boyish grin. "It's a surprise."

A half hour later, we arrived outside a small theatre, where Ezra handed me the envelope. Inside was a note that said:

**Go to 1746 Lark Blvd. **

**These tickets will get you in.**

**xoxo**

** Hanna, Spencer, and Emily**

The theatre was showing To Kill a Mocking Bird. As if we hadn't seen this movie a million times already, but that didn't matter to us; every time we saw it, the meaning was still the same.

"I never knew this theatre existed before tonight." Ezra murmured in my ear. We were walking in, and the theatre was _tiny_. There were reserved seats for us in the middle of the theatre, along with another note.

"How about we open it together this time?" I asked. Ezra gave me a nod, so we unfolded the note that was stuck to the seat in front of us.

We read the note out loud at the same time.

**Ar, you owe us big time!**

**We managed to rent out the theatre for this**

'**Private screening.'**

**Enjoy. ;)**

**xoxo**

**S, H, E. **

"Holy shit. The whole theatre, just for us. I do owe them big now." I grinned at Ezra, and the movie started.

About a half hour into the movie, the tension was unbearable. You could tell that we were both trying to keep our hands off each other, but it was failing. Miserably. I looked over at Ezra, and he had a torn expression on his face. I gave him a quick grin before climbing into his lap.

"I like this spot much better than mine." I whispered in his ear.

Ezra cracked a smile. "You can't even see the screen this way." Even though he poked fun at me, I could feel his hands resting on my hips, playing with the hem of my shirt.

I leaned in, so our lips were almost touching. "And I'm okay with that." I looked into his eyes, and saw how much I was torturing him. So I leaned in and closed the space between us.

From then on we spent the remainder of the movie trying to pay attention and making out. More of the second one, but we'd seen the movie so many times that it's not like we were missing anything. Ezra and I had lost track of what time it was until the credits were rolling, and that was around eleven thirty.

"I have a half hour to get you home. Perfect timing." Ezra smiled as he took my hand in his and walked out of the theatre.

I spent the whole car ride leaning my head on his shoulder.

"This date was perfect, no matter what anyone else says." I say. I grimace at the thought of what I might face at school tomorrow, but I quickly push the thoughts aside; nothing was going to get in the way of how amazing tonight was. It was as if Ezra could read my mind.

"No matter what anyone says." he repeats. I lift my head off his shoulder to look him in the eyes. "I know you're going to get a lot of crap at school tomorrow. Your parents might have accepted us, but that doesn't mean Rosewood will. But remember what you told me after the time you met Hardy?" I nodded. "You said we'll not care together. So if the two of us are happy, nothing else matters." I kissed Ezra on the cheek, and rested my head back on his shoulder. It was comforting to know that he has the same worries about tomorrow that I do.

We pulled into my driveway at exactly 11:59. Ezra climbed out of the driver's seat and opened my door for me. "Exactly on time." Ezra walked me to the front door where we both stopped and looked at each other. We both leaned in at the same time, wanting to enjoy our last few minutes of being together. I wrapped my fingers in his hair, and his hands rested on the small of my back, pulling me closer to him. We were so absorbed with each other that neither of us heard the approaching footsteps on the other side of the door.

The door swung open and we froze. Byron came face to face with us still entwined with one another. All that came out of his mouth was "Its 12:01."

I pulled away from Ezra as fast as I could; we both had a blush spreading across our faces. "Sorry Daddy. We were just saying goodnight." Ezra cleared his throat. Byron just turned around grumbling to himself. It sounded something along the lines of 'you can say goodbye with words.'

"Good night beautiful." Ezra murmured, letting go of my hand.

I shut the door behind me, and basically sank against the door; it felt so cheesy, but it truly had been one of the most perfect nights of my life.

As soon as I'd changed, I collapsed on my bed, engrossed in my thoughts of everything that had gone on with Ezra earlier tonight. Grabbing my journal off the small table, I opened it to the next blank page before realize I had no pen.

I strode over to my desk, grappling around for something to write with, before noticing something that had changed since I left for my date with Ezra. I looked at the bouquet of white roses, only to notice that now in the middle of the bouquet was a single red rose.

I felt all of the colour drain from my face as I slowly turned the vase around. On the back was a sticky note, with some all too familiar writing.

_**You and your boy toy might be safe from mommy and daddy's wrath,**_

_**But you're sure as hell not safe from mine. **_

_**Sleep tight BFF!**_

_**-A**_

I put the post it back down on my desk, but I felt empty and hollow. Of course something, or should I say someone, had to put a damper on this night.

My last thought before going to sleep is that A truly is a bitch.

**Here's a one-shot I found when going through some of my old writing. Thought I'd post it. Certainly not my *best* work, but hopefully you guys enjoyed it! Lemme know, and review :) **

**PS, I'll be updating my other story, 5:00, really soon, with the next **_**two**_** chapters. They'll be up within the next couple days :)**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Xx Maddie**


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